Believe it or not, but this discussion can get even more complex.
A while ago I received a message from Steven Enz who lives in Canada.
He sent me the most curious and clever contribution to this debate.
Listen to this:
"On April 27, 1996, I attached a 3 meter helium balloon to a 1000 meter
string and successfully topped out the whole spool. Now I realize that
it was a fairly flimsy structure but make no bones about it, it was
indeed a structure. It wasn't intended for humans to occupy it but then
again neither is a TV-mast. Oh well, you can add this structure to your
list with my permission. Documented proof is available if you need it."
This may sound like a funny story but with this example steven shows crystal clear how difficult it is to determine what we consider to be a 'building' or a 'structure' and how to measure it.
Steven does not only define this problem, he also gives an indication for solving it.
"There is no such thing as the worlds tallest building or structure. The word 'building' or 'structure' is just too vague. A great range of items can be built high. Maybe the ultimate solution is that there will be as many as ten tallest building/structure categories."
To give you an other example of how difficult it is to measure towers, read the very clever message I received from "Dave":
When I read about the people in Seoul claiming the tallest tower because it was on a mountain, it reminded me of a restaurant I once visited that is on top of Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA. It is at 14,110 feet, so it must rank as one of the tallest buildings in the world in spite of being only a single-story building.
I think both Steven and Dave are right about this. The conclusion is that measuring the tallest buildings in the world is extremely difficult. And the four categories as defined by the Council on Tall Buildings are by far not detailed enough. The mere fact that wonderful towers such as CN Tower aren't listed in one of these categories proves it! However, because somehow we believe that the balloon on a wire from Steven and the single-story restaurant of Dave don't belong in our listing, The High-Rise Pages has developed a new set of criteria for measuring tall objects! Below you can read our guidelines for measuring the tallest structures in the world.
1) A structure is measured from top to bottom.
The top includes any solid object like for example a spire or antenna that is permanently attached to the structure and permanently contributes to the height of the structure. This means that for example a flag that is put in to place only at special occasions, is not included in the height.
When spire and antenna's would not be included, in some cases it would be impossible to determine where the structure ends and the antenna or spire starts. This is the case with for example Petronas Towers. The bottom of a building is defined as the last 'waistline' of the structure (drawing the structure from top to bottom) that lies fully in open air.
2) Only the part of a structure that is supported by air or man-made objects or substances, will be included in measuring. So the part of and oil-platform that is under water will not be included in our measurement.
3) The objects or substances that support the structure should be attached to earth no higher than the bottom of the actual structure. So buildings for example leaning against mountains, will not be included in our measurement.
So knowing all this, what would a list of the 10 tallest structures in the world look like?
Go to next page for the answer...
